Protesters from Chicago, New York interrupt hearing

POTTSVILLE - Shouting and chanting from about 75 protesters interrupted the preliminary hearing Monday in Schuylkill County Court for three teenagers charged in the July 12 slaying of a Mexican national in Shenandoah.

The protesters from three civil rights groups - two from Chicago and one from New York - demonstrated outside the courthouse here as the hearings began.

A man and woman tried to stage a counterdemonstration with limited success.

Ronald Hannivig of Simpson, Lackawanna County, and Debby Rabold of Effort, Monroe County, said they simply were citizens seeking to have federal immigration laws enforced.

"We're here legally, which is more than I can say about the victim in this case," Hannivig said.

Luis E. Ramirez, 24, was on his way home to his fiancee, Crystal A. Dillman, and four children when he was fatally beaten, officials say. Ramirez lived mostly in Shenandoah since he entered the United States illegally six years ago, officials said.

The demonstrators' chants could be heard inside the courtroom, forcing officials to briefly interrupt the hearing until the protesters quieted down at the request of sheriff's deputies.

The demonstrators began chanting again when Dillman appeared to accept money that the protesters had collected for her family. The protesters left about 12:10 p.m. after meeting with Dillman.

Emma Lonzano, executive director of Center Without Borders of Chicago, said her group was there to support the Ramirez family.

"The criminals who created the climate for this kind of hatred in this community aren't in court today," said Lonzano, who added that she was born in Texas. "What made them (defendants) believe that because he was a Latino he was somehow taking something from them?"

A second group from Chicago consisted of 15 females, ages 14 to 27. They declined to give their individual names and asked to be referred to collectively as Latinas.

They said they formed a drill team when they heard Ramirez's murder may have been racially motivated.

The girls and about 50 other supporters raised money and rented a bus to support Dillman and Ramirez's family during the hearing, a spokeswoman said.

Mike Gimbel of Saylorsburg, Monroe County, was representing May First Coalition, which demonstrates in support of labor and minority groups.

He is a delegate of AFSCME Local 375, which represents 7,000 engineers, chemists and other white-collar workers in New York.

"Foreclosures, job losses, bankruptcies are affecting working Americans of all walks of life and what the authorities are trying to do is draw our attention away from them and their failures by getting the working men and women of America to fight against each other," Gimbel said. "Issues of class, race and ethnicity are just a distraction from the real problems facing this country."